How the Dutch are Helping New Orleans Stay Dry – excellent 8-min audio interview with New Orleans architect David Waggonner and Netherlands Honorary Consul General Connie Willems about water management and flood mitigation in New Orleans and in the Netherlands. Even with substantial differences between the two locations – the amount …
Agritourismo Santa Maria – I recently had the good fortune to spend nearly a week at this working farm and tourist facility in the rolling hills of Umbria just north of Rome. It’s the perfect place for a large group – say an extended family ranging from 30 to …
A Monochrome Lego Set To Teach Tomorrow’s Architects – six architectural firms contributed to the 268-page books that accompanies Lego Architecture Studio, a completely white set of Lego bricks designed to highlight major architectural principles. Each of the firms – REX Architecture, Sou Fujimoto, SOM, MAD Architects, Tham & Videgård, and Safdie Architects – gets up to …
Announcing the AZ Awards of Merit – annual design awards in residential architecture (shown here), furniture design, residential interiors, temporary architecture, furniture systems, commercial architecture over and under 1,000 square meters, landscape architecture, commercial interiors, concepts, and student work. Images for all the finalists are here.
Best Practices for Sustainable Construction – post on SustainableCitiesCollective has good links, especially for those working in the UK. Increased flood risk, increased risk of drought and more severe storms means making greater use of sustainable drainage systems such as: green roofs; rainwater harvesting; permeable pavements; infiltration …
More Discussion About Evidence-Based Design – post by healthcare design consultant Sara Marberry is a recap of a discussion among design experts about what it means for architects to be involved in design research. In addition to encouraging schools to prepare students for working in an evidence-based design environment, they …
18 building resiliency proposals at city council – New York’s Urban Green Council, a chapter of USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council), has recently released their Building Resiliency Task Force Report. It consists of 18 post-Hurricane Sandy proposals for “making New York buildings and residents safer and better prepared for …
The Codes Project – website is “an anthology of the codes, laws and related documents that have created, or sought to create, particular urban forms.” This project, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, covers codes from “around the world, and from all time periods.” The Directory section …
July travel news: editor’s picks – take a break with this slideshow of 20 hotels and restaurants from around the world selected by Wallpaper for both design and quality of food or drink. 55 slides in all.
Center for Active Design: Resources – links to design guidelines aimed at architects, urban designers, planners, policy makers, communities, developers, and educators wishing to promote health “through the design of buildings, streets, and neighborhoods.” The original publication Active Design Guidelines has been followed with four supplements: Promoting Safety …
Architecture: Steiner – editorial on WAN (World Architecture News) about wholeness in architecture, particularly in the work of the Austrian “scientist, philosopher, and writer Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)” who designed and built the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland that is familiar to students of architecture around the world. A link in the …
Video: The making of Sou Fujimoto’s 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion – Wallpaper has a 3:29 min video clip on this year’s pavilion, the result of Fujimoto’s desire to create an ‘architectural landscape’. ‘The experience is more like a labyrinth but the space is very simple,’ says Fujimoto. Sized more …
Stockholm’s strawscraper will produce electricity from thousands of wind-agitated straws – skyscraper addition designed by Belatchew Arkitekter’s Labs studio applies piezoelectric technology via “hair-like material that harvests energy from the wind.” From the architect’s website: The straws of the facade consist of a composite material with piezoelectric properties that can …
A Year of Light and Space – anyone who’s interested in James Turrell’s work with light, space, and perception will have ample opportunity to see it in person this year. Exhibits of his installations will open in Los Angeles (LACMA), Houston (Museum of Fine Arts), and New York (Guggenheim Museum – …
ArchiAfrika Magazine #2 – this second issue covers a wide range of topics, from the cover story on musician Hugh Masakela to African architects at Milan Design Week (shown here) to recycling practices in 6 African cities to community-built compressed-earth block schools in the Dogon to informal housing in Accra …
Sculptural pipes play secret lullabies to entertain hospital patients – the kids at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital are in for a treat, an “audio-playground for the young patients.” The Lullaby Project (check out the drawings and the backstory) was developed by architects at Studio Weave and sound artist Jessica Curry. Sculpture? Sound …
New Cooling Technology for Buildings Works In the Full Heat of a Sunny Day – electrical engineers at Stanford have discovered a “metal-dielectric photonic structure” that acts like a mirror to solar light reflecting the Sun’s energy, emits what it reflects within a specific range of …
OMA and Knoll Unveil Furniture Worthy Of Dr. No – Rem Koolhaas’ architectural firm OMA has teamed with furniture maker Knoll to produce a line called Tools for Life. Knoll is known for enlisting famous architects and designers for furniture ideas, and tapped Koolhaas as part of its 75th …